1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector which is suitable for use, for example, as a surface-mounted multipolar connector for connecting circuit boards. This application is based on Patent Application No. Hei 8-337233 filed in Japan, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Background Art
As is commonly known, one means for achieving high-density mounting which is essential to the miniaturization of electronic devices is to use techniques such as surface mounting and automatic installation of electronic parts such as chip resistors or chip capacitors.
This type of surface mounting and automatic installation is performed in the following manner.
As shown in FIG. 17, electronic parts 3 are placed in a plurality of embossed portions 2a of a tape 2 wound about a reel 1, and the reel 1 is mounted onto a chip mounter which is not shown. Surface mounting and automatic installation are performed as shown in FIG. 18, wherein a suction nozzle 4 is moved downward to draw up an electronic part 3 placed in the embossed portion 2a of the tape 2 by means of the suction of the suction nozzle 4, then the electronic part 3 is conveyed above a printed circuit board, mounted on the printed circuit board, and reflow soldered thereon.
On the other hand, miniaturization and high-density mounting are required not only for electronic parts such as chip resistors and chip capacitors, but also for multipolar connectors for making connections between circuit boards.
Therefore, conventional processes such as those shown in FIGS. 19 through 21 are known for performing surface mounting and automatic installation of multipolar connectors while using chip mounters such as are used for electronic parts such as chip resistors and chip capacitors.
FIG. 19 shows an example of the conventional art, as proposed in Japanese Utility Model Application, First Publication No. Hei 6-31079. In the drawing, reference numeral 5 denotes a receptacle connector and reference numeral 6 denotes a sheet. The receptacle connector 5 is composed of a housing 7 and a terminal 8. The housing 7 has a receptacle portion 7a. The terminal 8 has an L-shaped structure and is affixed with one end protruding into the receptacle portion 7a. The sheet 6 is adhered to the top surface of the housing 7. Due to this structure, the receptacle connector 5 can be conveyed together with the sheet 6 by holding the top surface of the sheet 6 by means of a suction nozzle 4.
FIG. 20 shows another example of the conventional art, proposed in Japanese Utility Model Application, First Publication No. Hei 5-31188. In this conventional art, a suction aid 9 is fitted into the receptacle portion 7a of the housing 7 of the receptacle connector 5, and the receptacle connector 5 can be conveyed together with the suction aid 9 by holding the top surface of the suction aid 9 by means of a suction nozzle 4.
FIG. 21 shows a third example of the conventional art, proposed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 4-217400. In this conventional art, the receptacle connector 5 can be held by forming the tip surface of the suction nozzle such as to be capable of entirely covering the top surface of the receptacle connector 5.
However, the conventional art examples described above have the following drawbacks.
In the art shown in FIG. 19, after the top surface of the sheet 6 is held by means of the suction nozzle 4 and the receptacle connector is conveyed, placed on a circuit board and soldered on, the sheet 6 which becomes unnecessary must be removed. Since the work of removing this sheet 6 is extremely complicated, the work efficiency is largely reduced.
Similarly, in the second example shown in FIG. 20, the work of removing the suction aid 9 is required and the work efficiency is reduced.
In the third example shown in FIG. 21, since the shape of the suction nozzle 4 depends on the shape of the receptacle connector 5 which is to be held, the same suction nozzle 4 cannot be used for receptacle connectors having different shapes or for other electronic parts such as chip resistors and chip capacitors. Therefore, suction nozzles of various shapes corresponding to all of the types of receptacle connectors to be held must be readied, thus increasing the production costs.